Saturday, September 15, 2001
UC legend Bill Schwarberg dies
Original Bengal coached football, baseball, golf
By Rebecca Billman
The Cincinnati Enquirer
KENTON HILLS — Most don't remember the original Cincinnati Bengals of the 1930s. But many know the name of one of their players, William “Bill” Schwarberg.
Dr. Schwarberg was the fabled University of Cincinnati assistant football coach who helped the team compile a 70-30-4 record, win four Mid-American Conference championships and go to three bowl games between 1946 and 1956.
And to prove he was an all-around talent, he compiled a respectable record coaching UC's baseball team and, despite not having played golf until after he was out of college, coached no fewer than 15 golfers into professional careers.
Dr. Schwarberg, 89, died Thursday at his home in Kenton Hills.
A native of Newport, he played on the undefeated Holmes High School football team in 1931.
It would be the first of many undefeated seasons for him.
Because he weighed only 125 pounds, college scouts weren't interested in him. So in the fall of 1932 he began attending UC's night school while playing for the Model Shoe Co.'s semi-pro football team.
That's when a UC coach recognized his ability and recruited him. He received a bachelor's degree four years later and, in the interim, he made his mark as a quarterback and halfback in football and a shortstop in baseball.
In 1937 he became the first quarterback for the Bengals, a professional team in the original AFL that folded in 1941. Paul Brown would use the same name for his NFL team more than 25 years later. Dr. Schwarberg quit the team the next year to focus on his new job as the first football coach at Dixie Heights High School.
In 1940 he coached the undefeated basketball team at John G. Carlisle School.
After earning a master's degree, he became athletic director, football and basketball coach and assistant physical education instructor at Holmes High School in 1942. His football team went undefeated and won the state championship that year, and his basketball team played in the state invitational tournament in 1944.
Dr. Schwarberg enlisted in the Navy as an ensign in 1944 and served in several theaters until his discharge in 1946.
UC hired him that year to be assistant football coach under Ray Nolting and to oversee intramural programs.
During his six years as freshman football coach, his team had four undefeated seasons. In 1952 he took over the golf team and compiled a record of 291-69-4.
While doing all that, he earned his Ph.D. from Columbia by studying during the summer months.
Dr. Schwarberg became assistant athletic director in 1963 and served as interim director in 1976. He retired and was elected professor emeritus in 1985.
He was inducted into the Northern Kentucky High School Athletic Directors Hall of Fame, the Hamilton County Sports Hall of Fame and the University of Cincinnati Hall of Fame.
He was also a Kentucky Colonel and a former member of the Covington Board of Education.
His wife, Ruby Lovell Schwarberg, died in 1992.
Surviving are nieces and nephews.
Visitation is 3:30-5:30 p.m. Sunday followed by the funeral at Ronald B. Jones Funeral Home, 316 Elm St. in Ludlow. Burial is at Paris Cemetery in Paris, Ky.
Memorials: University of Cincinnati Athletic Team Scholarship, c/o University of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 210021, Cincinnati 45221; or St. Elizabeth Hospice, 401 E. 20th St., Covington, KY 41011.
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 UC legend Bill Schwarberg dies
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